This one is for the old guys.

[Al Launier]

I haven't read all of the above posts, but how many recall having to use your left foot for the high/low beam of the headlights? I sometimes think that was more convenient than using the smart stick in today's cars.

[Joe Tilson]

1947 Chevy. Heal on gas peddle toe on starter switch on the hump. Then again I been driving since I was 10, and that was 1957.

[Jim Koepke]

Well, nobody's mentioned it so far so I guess that makes me the old fogey but one or more of my early cars had a choke.

A few of my cars had a manual choke. One even had a manual throttle on the dash. Must have been the early version of cruise control.

My old VWs had a 'reserve tank'. It was actually just a valve to pull gas from a lower point in the tank. The early VWs didn't have a fuel gauge. There was a note pad on the dash so the milage could be tracked and filled as needed.

jtk

[Brian Elfert]

I have a 1995 coach bus with the high beam switch on the floor. I rarely use the high beams anymore since I put in real HID headlights.

I have driven a few old vehicles that make me appreciate modern vehicles. I worked at a Fairgrounds with 1946 Chevy trucks for parking lot shuttles. (Basically what would be a medium duty truck would be today with bench seats on back for passengers.) It had a non-syncromesh transmission that had to be double clutched along with the starter button next to the gas pedal. There was a big hand brake lever that had to be used at every stop. Manual steering with a huge steering wheel. So hard to drive I can't believe we didn't kill any fairgoers. I couldn't imagine driving one on real streets.

[David Helm]

Well, nobody's mentioned it so far so I guess that makes me the old fogey but one or more of my early cars had a choke. I can't remember whether it was my '40 Ford woody or my '47 Chevy. My recollection is that the ford had a starter button on the dash and the Chevy had it on the floorboard. The Ford had mechanical brakes and the Chevy had a vacuum shift. That took some muscle in the winter.

Don't think you are the oldest fogie on here. Many cars, into the sixties had manual chokes. Don't think any American ones did though.

[Tom Stenzel]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the '50's Powerglide transmission that had reverse where first would be now. I remember reading in the paper where someone that had one would get in a different car and take out a garage wall.

What do I remember?

Dimmer on the floor- check.
Hand choke on dash - check.
Dash mounted ignition switch on left side of steering wheel so the right hand could operate the choke- check (Ford).
Double clutching to shift-check.
Downshifting the 3-on-the-tree going uphill in the rain- check. You who remember why- you know who you are!

Working at the restaurant, having a customer dump a handful of money and having the figure out by magic if the person needed change for the pay phone, cigarette machine or the juke box. Or some combination. And getting groused at if I didn't give him exactly what he needed and didn't ask for. -Check

I didn't smoke but when I went to work at a hotel I remember people there complaining that 75 cents for the cigarette machine was outrageous.

Getting sent to the store for milk, 89 cents a gallon. That was after we had the milkman deliver for years.

I'll think of more but only after I hit the post button.

-Tom.

[Kev Williams]

While I didn't bring up the floor-dimmer switch, I DID remember in my first post to bring up the 'magic bar' radio tuners in the old Pontiacs, there was also a button on the floor to change the radio station...

Speaking of old Pontiac's, remember those 'bar' speedometers, started out as a green bar, turned yellow when you hit 40 or so, and turned red when you hit 60 or so...

Also on the floor, in the old Fords anyway, was the windshield washer pedal...

How about "air conditioning", where you had to reach down an open the vents by your feet. (We used to hide wine bottles in those vents when going to the drive-in) -- About the time they did away with manual chokes, someone got the bright idea what to do with all the choke cables in the storeroom-- use 'em to open the vents!

Fly windows--

Open crankcase ventilation...

Back windows in the old Mercury's that went down...

The old T-birds with the swiveling steering column? My uncle had a '58 Mercury Parklane, it was a prototype car, it had a swiveling column, it moved automatically when you turned off the ignition. Had power windows, and power seats that moved back automatically too, you adjusted them with a knob on top of the dashboard. The back of the housing that held that knob had a sensor for the automatic dimming headlights...

Bumper jacks and actual spare tires--

[Jim Koepke]

z

Cigarettes went to $.23 a pack you use a quarter in the machine you get .02 back in the cellophane

The interesting story I read on this was what happened in 1955. One of the women whose job it was to put the pennies in the pack opened a fresh mint bag of pennies and got to work. Soon after the folks who bought cigarettes in a machine were among the first to notice some of the pennies looked blurry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955_doubled_die_cent

Fly windows--

I remember them as wing windows. Love those and wish they were still around. Those kept me awake on many a long night drive.

I remember my brother installed a 45 rpm record player in one of his cars.

I remember when Hell's Angles were the California Highway Patrol motorcycle riders who patrolled a stretch of road through the southern California Desert. When you broke down out there and they showed up you new someone up there was looking out for you.

I remember my mom's 1939 Packard. I remember when my oldest brother traded it for a pickup truck.

I do not remember this picture being snapped:

Dad & 3 brothers.jpg

That is my dad, three of my brothers, my oldest brother's friend and me (lower left) standing by my mom's Packard. That had to be about 1952 or 1953. Otherwise our youngest brother would likely also be in the shot.

After taking a closer look at this and some other photos I think the car is our neighbors car. My moms can be seen through the windows.

jtk

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Well, nobody's mentioned it so far so I guess that makes me the old fogey but one or more of my early cars had a choke. I can't remember whether it was my '40 Ford woody or my '47 Chevy. My recollection is that the ford had a starter button on the dash and the Chevy had it on the floorboard. The Ford had mechanical brakes and the Chevy had a vacuum shift. That took some muscle in the winter.

Still own and driving a little red one with a choke.

I haven't read all of the above posts, but how many recall having to use your left foot for the high/low beam of the headlights? I sometimes think that was more convenient than using the smart stick in today's cars.

We have three (functioning) vehicles in the garage that have that. I have to remind myself our two modern (1997 & 2001) vehicles don't have hi-beam switches on the floor. :-)

Wing windows? That is the only source of ventilation in my Morris.
Double-clutching? Been there, done that.
3 on the tree? Yup.
Reverse where 1st is now? Yup.

No one mentioned old trucks with 2-speed axles with hi/lo gears and usually push/pull buttons on the gear shift.

I'm not as old as many of you. I just happened to own or still own a number of vintage vehicles.

[Howard Garner]

Still own and driving a little red one with a choke.


No one mentioned old trucks with 2-speed axles with hi/lo gears and usually push/pull buttons on the gear shift.

I'm not as old as many of you. I just happened to own or still own a number of vintage vehicles.

Overdrive with the three on the tree? (49 Ford)